The deeds of Mancur Olson: A ride from Palmer House and a meeting in LeFrak Hall

Abstract

Mancur was so well known that those who did not keep close tabs on such things commonly believed that he held the Nobel Prize in economics. Actually, he did not. No one, however, doubts that had he lived just a few years longer—Mancur was 66 when he died—he would have been awarded the Prize. Many of the Prize recipients have never enjoyed his fame or influence. In the social sciences Olson was unique.